On a chilly Wednesday evening in mid-January, the brightest lights of the Salt Lake Valley converged upon the Leonardo Museum of Science, Technology, and Art at Library Square to celebrate the CATALYST 100 awardees.
Webmaster’s note: Make sure to check out the flip-through version of this story. LOTS of gorgeous photos! Click here: http://issuu.com/catalystmagazine/docs/catalyst_1302/20
On a chilly Wednesday evening in mid-January, the brightest lights of the Salt Lake Valley converged upon the Leonardo Museum of Science, Technology, and Art at Library Square to celebrate the CATALYST 100 awardees.
Honorees, their guests and friends of the magazine, spanned seven decades and a spectrum of disciplines from farming to art to a variety of shenanigans. Arriving early, guests were treated to a special opening of the da Vinci exhibit at the Leonardo, which presented constructed models of some of da Vinci’s best-known and most forward-thinking invention sketches from his famous notebooks.
Chef Daniel Cantu provided creative, elegant appetizers and desserts, and ran an intriguing “blind tasting booth” during the affair. Guests enjoyed wines from Bill of Castle Creek winery and beer by Epic Brewery, served by personable (and cute) bartenders Laird Hensler, Mike Watkiss and Sarah (aka Duckie) Kramer in the ever-growing collection of CATALYST stemware. (A record 59 bottles of wine were emptied in 45 minutes!) Our longtime friend Ray from Twigs arranged fragrant florals for the tables covered with an eclectic assortment of vintage cloths borrowed from Greta’s large linen closet. Ambience shone from a trio of art lights by Alice Toler. A slide show of honorees and their achievements created by Pax Rasmussen ran nonstop throughout the evening, as did a 30-year history of CATALYST magazine covers, prepared by intern Hannah Korevaar with John deJong.
Honorees received special tokens of our appreciation— “catalytic” test tubes filled with basil, melon, pea and zucchini seeds donated by Robb at Mountain Valley Seed, artfully assembled by CATALYST well-worked interns Lacey Kniep and Jane Ann Boud, who also did a yeoman’s task of marshalling RSVPs. Stefanie Dykes of Saltgrass Printmakers arranged for both the Japanese fibre token labels and guest name tags to be printed.
Polly Mottonen, assisted by Lori Mertz, made sure everyone had their name tags attached to orange laniards (originally purchased in massive quantities at Deseret Industries by Greta to make into “trick-or-treat” skirts for Burning Man). The staff of the Leo were a joy to work with, especially our main contacts Angelina and Maria, and photographer Jennifer Leahy did an excellent job of documenting the night for us, as you see here. We also thank local radio stations KPCW and KRCL who both did pieces on the CATALYST 100. We thank the honorees who attended the gathering—who, it was clear, enjoyed each other’s company tremendously—and everyone else who, in the spirit of Leonardo himself, celebrated that creative and convivial vein that flows through us all.
Shall we make this an annual event? We’re thinking “yes”.